Nico Gori's new cd

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A few days ago in Milan, Nico Gori presented his new album, "Shadows", made with his quartet, Millenovecento, and with the participation of Tom Harrell. Shadows is released by Universal's Emarcy Records. Born in Florence in 1975, Gori started learning an instrument at a very young age, like all musicians of a certain importance. So at six he was already playing the clarinet and four years later began studying the sax and the piano. The outcome was that he soon started playing a bit of everything, from classical to funky and all kinds of jazz. And he played with internationally renowned performers like Fred Hersch, Tom Harrell, Lee Konitz, Chicago Underground, Enrico Rava, Stefano Bollani, Gianluca Petrella, and with pop artists, such as Anna Oxa, I Dirotta su Cuba, Fabio Concato and Gino Paoli.

"Shadows" is his seventh album as a leader, his second with Millenovecento and his first with a major label. The album depicts the many facets – musical and otherwise – of shadows. «It's a contrast of moments. Moments of tension, release and improvisation are simply shading that can be translated into music because shadow is an inseparable entity that is part of us throughout our lives and shouldn't necessarily be seen just as darkness»,says Gori. This is indeed a sincere album that never carries over into the excessive use of technique, it is engaging and appealing for the fine balance of the melodies. As long as you accept its conditions: because when you press the play button, «the first two tracks are not the most involving, as often happens. Indeed, they're the two that require the listener to listen attentively to the music for an hour».

Dedicated to Gori's father, who passed away just over a year ago, "Shadows" features Stefano Onorati on the piano, Stefano Senni on bass and Ettore Fioravanti on drums. Plus a very special guest: Tom Harrell on flugelhorn. «His involvement didn't come about by chance, I'd sent him my music, but what sparked it off was our playing together at the Barga Jazz Festival. We were so in sync, and this meant it didn't become just the usual collaboration between musicians that ends on the last note of the session». Gori has a couple more albums in the pipeline, one with his European Quartet and the other with pianist Fred Hersch. Both will be released by the Fall. As for his live performances, the best will come in summer, when he'll be playing at the Tel Aviv Opera House in July and in New York in August. Moreover, «I'm working on my Italian tour and I'll be playing with Bollani a lot».

To keep up to date, his website, “which I've been developing and updating on my own for a couple of months”, is www.nicogori.com